Posted on 10/10/2007 11:55:47 AM PDT by TitansAFC
FRC’s Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Center Action, just completed a conference call with reporters. What stood out to me were his comments on Rudy:
“Yes, there will be some evangelicals who vote for him. In my experience, it’s about half and half. … In the eyes of many social conservatives, there’s little distinction between [Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani]. Clearly there’s some distinction, they’re not identical. But when you consider those who have come into the political process on ideological path or issues path, not a party path… These are people who are not there to advance a political party. They are there to advance causes. If they’re indistinguishable on so many issues that are vital to these voters, it’s hard to see why you should vote for one instead of the other.”
Other highlights from the call:
Q: If there is no clear frontrunner, what advice would you give evangelical voters?
Perkins: I don’t think it’s ever good to sit out the process. As citizens we have ability and right, I believe as Christian citizens we have an obligation to be involved. I’m optimistic that there is going to be one or two candidates emerge from the summit next week with a strong consensus of support among social conservatives.
I’m pretty optimistic we’re going to see the field solidify.
On Fred Thompson: I have met a number of times with Sen. Thompson. I think he has a lot to offer. I think he covers a wide spectrum of issues. I think he has a record that shows he is conservative socially. I think he is a fiscal conservative, and is strong in foreign policy and defense. The challenge is that if you look at this field, there’s a lot to like. There’s a little you want to have in each one of them. If you could mix and match, we would have a candidate tomorrow.
This summit will give these candidates a chance to speak directly to a good cross-section of our movement. We have representatives from all fifty states.
On the Utah meeting: I was at that meeting it’s been misconstrued a little bit. It was not a declaration of intent, it was a declaration of principle that there is a line we will not cross. If the party chooses to break its commitment to creating a culture of life, we’re not going to go in that direction with the party.
There’s only one candidate who has this issue, and that’s Mayor Giuliani. It would be very problematic for the party to nominate a candidate who broke with 30 years of Republican Party history.
There’s no desire to create a third party, no action underway, simply the statement that if the party breaks with social conservatives, then social conservatives will break with thee party. It’s an if-then scenario.
I don’t know if I’m going to personally endorse a candidate at all.
Q: If Giuliani exceeds expectations, doesn’t that undermine threat?
One of the reasons we were insistent that he be invited to the Values Voters Summit was to give him the opportunity to say what his message is. We’ve invited the Democratic candidates to come as well. [None have accepted so far.] It’s helpful to have that dialogue.
I don’t envision majority of social conservatives actively supporting a pro-abortion rights candidate… The old ‘ABC,’ Anybody But Clinton, is not enough to rally conservatives who have been working for thirty years to create a culture of life.
[Guiliani] will be treated cordially. He will be given twenty minutes to make his pitch… My experience is, you don’t beat a liberal with a moderate. You get enthusiasm on the left, but you don’t get enthusiasm on the right. Yes, there will be some evangelicals who vote for him. In my experience, it’s about half and half.
Q: What advice would you give Romney?
I gave up consulting when my candidates kept losing, so I’m not one to give advice. But I’d say keep doing what he’s been doing… In my opinion, he’s one of the strongest on our issues. It's true he has had a change of position on these issues. I do believe they’re genuine. I do not see him going back. He’s staked ground that he has to hold to.
[Mormonism] is an unknown religion, in the sense that people are not familiar with it. Some people have said he should be like John Kennedy. I think it’s a little different of a scenario. There are a lot of commonalities between Catholic and Protestant state. Mormonism, there’s a lot of distinctions. He’s best when he’s focused on the issues and his policy positions; then down the road he can have a dialogue on faith.
We’re a third, roughly of the Republican party and we’ve had a good relationship with fiscal conservatives and national security conservatives over the past 30 years. We need a candidate who is acceptable on our policies, as well as fiscal policy and defense and foreign policy. We’ve tried to be respectful to the other members of our coalition by not backing a candidate who isn’t respectful of their priorities; now we’d like them to be respectful by not backing a candidate who isn’t respectful of our priorities.
Quote of the year for the militant Rudophiles to consider.
The “Stop Rudy” ping list!
E-mail/ping me if you want on/off the list! SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Perkins says to expect at least half of Evangelicals to look elsewhere if Rudy911 is imposed upon Conservatives.
BUMP
Perkins says to expect at least half of Evangelicals to look elsewhere if Rudy911 is imposed upon Conservatives.
***
Ok, but to whom are they going to look? The Democrats? Libertarians? Some other party?
A man of genuine principle. Astounding.
What's more: he's absolutely right.
When it comes down to voting Democrat or Republican, vote Republican. When the elections are over, start forming a third party and do it seriously. Do anything to keep the Clintons out of office. If they took over the Oval office again, they can do enough damage that it could take 100 years to fix. Not worth taking the chance this time around.
Given the choice between two pro-abortion candidates I for one will write in for “none of the above”. There are limits to the extent to which one can compromise. Every Republican I have EVER voted for has required me to compromise to at least some extent. But there are limits, and this is clearly one for many of us.
I would like to urge folks to avoid refering to themselves as "Evangelicals", "Fundamentalists" or by any other substitute other than Christians. The left has done it's best to add in words that trigger negative mental responses by the general public. Obviously it's okay to refer to yourself as a Baptist, or Catholic, or whatever religion you're a member of, but as a group we are Christians and we should demand the media respect that.
They should be called on it every single time they try to label us something for their own purposes.
But what do you do when sticking to your principles does more harm to the cause to you want to further than, in your opinion, abandoning the will?
I’m not a “rudophile” (silly name calling) but you will be surprised. If he’s the nominee, and Hillary’s the opponent, it won’t even be an issue for the evangelicals I know.
These are the people who are so darn “godly” that they don’t trust God to tell them whom to vote for in a two-party system if one person is Hillary and the other is Rudy. I call that a total lack of faith.
I refuse to vote for something I hate. I will just write in a name if Rooty is on the ballot!
Evangelicals are the tip of the iceberg. I’m not one, but I will NOT vote for Rudy if he gets the nomination, nor will anyone else in my family. That’s a given. I may be able to hold my nose and vote for some of the others if they win the nomination, but Rudy - NEVER!
You’re kidding, right? Or kidding yourself.
That is either a fundamentally dishonest or ignorant statement that is impossible to back up with any facts whatsoever - period.
Rudy once described himself as one of “the most effective abortion rights activist in America” before a NARAL meeting.
Wise up. Lies are unbecoming.
precisely.
Correct. You’re preaching to the choir here. :)
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